Methods of fabricating ESD protection structures

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides a novel ESD structure for protecting an integrated circuit (IC) from ESD damage and a method of fabricating the ESD structure on a semiconductor substrate. The ESD structure of the present invention has lower trigger voltage and lower capacitance, and takes smaller substrate area than prior art ESD structures. The low trigger voltage is provided by a small N + P diode or a P + N diode which has a PN junction with a much lower breakdown voltage than a PN junction between a N+ (or P+) source/drain region and a P-well (or N-well). All of the diffusion regions in the ESD device of the present invention can be formed using ordinary process steps for fabricating the MOS devices in the IC and does not require extra masking steps in addition to those required to fabricate the IC.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This is a division of application Ser. No. 10/298,104 filed Nov. 14, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,777,721 which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to electronic devices, and more specifically to electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection structures for protecting an integrated circuit from ESD damage.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

ESD protection has been a main concern in the reliability of integrated circuit (IC) products in submicron complimentary metal-oxide-silicon (CMOS) technologies. For example, drain diffusion regions in N-type metal-oxide-silicon (NMOS) and P-type metal-oxide silicon (PMOS) transistors in output buffers of a CMOS IC are often directly connected to output pads of the IC in order to drive external loads of the IC, causing the CMOS output buffers to be vulnerable to ESD damage. To improve ESD robustness of a CMOS output buffer, the NMOS and PMOS transistors in the output buffer are usually designed with large device dimensions. But the increase in the device dimensions in output buffers is inconsistent with the general trend to reduce device size. Therefore, efforts have been made to design ESD protection structures in the input and output circuitry of an IC that offer sufficient ESD protection while taking up as little area in the IC as possible. In addition, high speed pins of the IC often require low capacitance in the associated circuitry. Therefore, efforts have also been made to design ESD protection structures with low capacitance.

Lateral semiconductor-controlled rectifier (SCR) devices have been widely used in ESD-protection structures for input protection in submicrometer CMOS IC's. See R. N. Rountree, et al., “A Process-Tolerant Input Protection Circuit for Advanced CMOS Proceses,” 1988 EOS/ESD Symposium Proceedings, p. 201. For the output buffers, a low-voltage triggering SCR (LVTSCR) with an inserted NMOS transistor in a lateral SCR structure has been used to provide a much lower trigger voltage than a conventional SCR. The inserted NMOS transistor in the LVTSCR is designed with its gate grounded to provide a low breakdown voltage for the drain-substrate diode at the gate edge. The low breakdown voltage leads to a low trigger voltage for the LVTSCR. Thus the ESD trigger voltage of the LVTSCR device is equivalent to a snap-back trigger voltage of the inserted short-channel NMOS transistor, which is typically much lower than a switching voltage of the original lateral SCR device. See A. Chatterjee, et al., “A Low-Voltage Triggering SCR for On-chip ESD Protection at Output and Input Pad,” IEEE Electron Device Letters, Vol. 12, No. 1, January 1991, p. 21. However, the LVTSCR device can have a higher than desirable capacitance due to the usage of the NMOS transistor as the trigger device.

Another SCR structure that offers a low trigger voltage is the triple well SCR device presented by Nikolaidis and Papadas in “A Novel SCR ESD Protection for Triple Well CMOS Technologies,” IEEE Electron Device Letters, Vol. 22, No. 4, April 2001, p. 185. This device incorporates a P-well to trigger an RC circuit, and provides a trigger voltage even lower than that of the LVTSCR device. However, the use of the P-well is disadvantageous because it requires more area on the substrate.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a novel ESD structure for protecting an IC from ESD damage and a method of fabricating the ESD structure on a semiconductor substrate. The ESD structure of the present invention meets the requirements of low trigger voltage and low capacitance, and requires less substrate area than prior art ESD structures. The low trigger voltage is provided by a small N⁺P diode or a P⁺N diode which has a PN junction with a much lower breakdown voltage than a PN junction between a N+ (or P+) source/drain region and a P-well (or N-well). All of the diffusion regions in the ESD device of the present invention can be formed using ordinary process steps for fabricating the MOS devices in the IC and do not require additional masking steps beyond those already required to fabricate the IC. In one embodiment of the present invention, the lighter doped diffusion region of the N⁺P or P⁺N diode can be formed using a lightly doped drain (LDD) implant process for forming LDD diffusion regions in the IC, and the higher doped diffusion region of the N⁺P or P⁺N diode can be formed using a source/drain implant process for forming source/drain diffusion regions in the IC. The ESD device of the present invention also takes up very little area on a semiconductor substrate because it has a very compact layout and does not require any MOS devices for triggering. The compact layout and the absence of a MOS trigger device also lead to low capacitance for the input or output pads being protected.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the present invention and advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1A is a block diagram of a top view of a prior art ESD protection structure;

FIG. 1B is schematic drawing of a cross-sectional view of the prior art ESD protection structure in FIG. 1A;

FIG. 1C is a circuit schematic of the prior art ESD protection structure shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B;

FIG. 2A is a block diagram of a top view of an ESD protection structure according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 2B to 2D are schematic drawings of cross-sectional views of the ESD protection device in FIG. 2A;

FIG. 2E is a circuit schematic of an ESD protection circuit realized by the ESD protection structure shown in FIGS. 2A–2D; and

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a process for fabricating the ESD protection structure on a semiconductor substrate according to one embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate a prior art LVTSCR ESD protection structure 100: FIG. 1A is a block diagram of a top view of structure 100, and FIG. 1B is a schematic drawing of a cross section of structure 100 along line B–B′ in FIG. 1A. As shown in FIG. 1A, structure 100 comprises a P+ diffusion region 110 formed in a N-well 130 in a P-type substrate 140. Structure 100 further comprises one or more NMOS-like structures each having a gate 150 over the substrate 140, and two N+ diffusion regions, a source region 122 and a drain region 120, formed in substrate 140 on opposite sides of gate 150. Structure 100 may be surrounded by a P+ guard ring 112. As shown in FIG. 1B, P+ diffusion region 110 and N+ drain regions 120 are connected to an input or output terminal (or pad) of an integrated circuit (IC), which is protected by structure 100. Source regions 122 and gate 150 are connected to the ground (or V_(SS)) of the IC. Thus, P+ diffusion region 110 and N+ drain regions 120 are usually called the anode of structure 100, and source regions 122 are usually called the cathode of structure 100.

FIG. 1C is a circuit schematic of structure 100. As shown in FIG. 1C, structure 100 includes a lateral SCR structure having two parasitic bipolar transistors, a PNP bipolar transistor BPT_(PNP) and a NPN bipolar transistor BPT_(NPN), associated with structure 100. P+ diffusion region 110, N-well 130, and P-type substrate 140 form the emitter, base and collector regions, respectively, of the BPT_(PNP) transistor. N+ source regions 122, P-type substrate 140, and N-well 130 form the emitter, base and collector, respectively, of the BPT_(NPN) transistor. Resistor Rn is formed by the sheet resistance associated with N-well 130, and resistor Rp is formed by the sheet resistance associated with the P-type substrate 140.

The NMOS-like structures in structure 100 are represented by the NMOS transistor T having a grounded gate 150, and two N+ diffusion regions, source 122 and drain 120, in substrate 140. As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the N+ drain 120 is connected to the pad and the N+ source 122 is connected to ground. The PN junction J formed by the N+ drain 120 and the P-substrate 140 under the grounded gate 150 is used to trigger the SCR in structure 100.

The triggering of the SCR structure in structure 100 from an “off” state to an “on” state occurs as a result of positive feedback of the two bipolar transistors BPT_(NPN) and BPT_(PNP). The positive feedback is initiated by charge injection into the base regions 140 and 130 of the bipolar transistors when an ESD pulse occurs at the pad. With the charge injection, resistor Rp provides a necessary voltage drop for turning on BPT_(npn), and resistor Rn provides a necessary voltage drop for turning on BPT_(pnp). If the NMOS transistor T were not in the circuit, this charge injection is triggered by an avalanche breakdown of the reverse-biased PN junction formed by p-substrate 140 and N-well 130 resulting from the ESD pulse. Because both substrate 140 and N-well 130 are lightly doped, this breakdown would occur at a relatively high voltage, which may be too high to provide sufficient protection for the IC.

The LVTSCR structure 100 can have a significantly lower ESD trigger voltage than conventional lateral SCR structures because of the inserted NMOS transistor T. One reason for this is that the avalanche breakdown in structure 100 in response to an ESD pulse at the pad occurs near the gated PN junction J between N+ drain 120 and p-substrate 140. Because junction J is under a grounded gate and the N+ drain 120 has a much higher dopant concentration than that of the N-well 130, this breakdown can occur at a much lower voltage.

Although the LVTSCR structure 100 can provide sufficiently low ESD trigger voltage to NMOS devices in an input or output circuit of an integrated circuit, it has several problems associated with the introduction of the NMOS-like structures. First, the LVTSCR structure 100 has a large capacitance due to the large N-well 130 and the large N+ drain diffusions 120 in the NMOS-like structures. The large capacitance makes the LVTSCR unsuitable for protecting high-speed integrated circuits from ESD damage. Furthermore, because of the use of the NMOS-like structure, there is a concern about gate oxide breakdown in the LVTSCR structure 100 during an ESD event.

The ESD structure of the present invention avoids the above disadvantages of the prior art ESD protection structures by providing a low ESD trigger voltage while avoiding the use of a MOS-like structure. FIGS. 2A–2D illustrate an ESD protection structure 200 built on a semiconductor substrate, according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2A is a block diagram of a top view of structure 200, FIG. 2B is a schematic drawing of a cross section of structure 200 along line B–B′ in FIG. 2A, FIG. 2C is a schematic drawing of a cross section of structure 200 along line C–C′ in FIG. 2A, and FIG. 2D is a schematic drawing of a cross section of structure 200 along line D–D′ in FIG. 2A. The figures referred to herein are for illustrative purposes and are not to scale or to conform in shape with real devices. Also, the arrangement of the diffusion regions in structure 200 can vary depending on the design rules and layout requirement associated with the design and fabrication of an integrated circuit protected by structure 200.

As shown in FIG. 2A, structure 200 comprises P+ diffusion regions 212, 214, and 216. P+ diffusion region 212 is formed in a N-well 252, P+ diffusion region 216 is formed in a P-well 242, and P+ diffusion region 214 is formed in a P-type diffusion region 232, which in turn is formed in P-well 242. Structure 200 further comprises N+ diffusion regions 222, 224, and 226. N+ diffusion regions 224 and 226 are formed in P-well 242, and part of N+ diffusion region 222 is formed in N-well 252 while part of it is formed in the P-type diffusion region 232. The dopant concentration in the P-type diffusion region 232 is higher than that of the P-well but not higher than that of the P+ diffusion regions in structure 200. Structure 200 may further include a N-well/P-well block region 262. The N-well/P-well block region is a region in the semiconductor substrate that has not been subjected to any dopant implant process and thus has a higher sheet resistance than that of the N-well and P-well regions.

As shown in FIGS. 2B–2D, P+ diffusion region 212 and N+ diffusion region 222 are connected to an input or output terminal (or pad) of an integrated circuit (IC) protected by structure 200, and can be called the anode of structure 200. N+ diffusion regions 224 and 226, as well as P+ diffusion region 216, are connected to the ground (or V_(SS)) of the IC, and can be called the cathode of structure 200.

FIG. 2E is a circuit schematic of structure 200. As shown in FIG. 2E, there are two bipolar transistors, a PNP bipolar transistor BPT₁ and a NPN bipolar transistor BPT₂, associated with structure 200. P+ diffusion region 212, N-well 252, and P-well 242 form the emitter, base and collector regions, respectively, of the BPT₁ transistor. N+ diffusion region 224 or 226, P-well 242, and N-well 252 form the emitter, base and collector, respectively, of the BPT₂ transistor. Resistor R₁ is formed by the sheet resistance associated with N-well 252, and resistor R₂ is formed by the sheet resistance associated with the P-well 242. Transistors BPT₁ and BPT₂, and resistors R₁ and R₂ thus form a lateral SCR structure within structure 200 that can turn on to discharge an ESD pulse sent to the pad.

Structure 200 further includes a diode D₁ formed at the PN junction between N+ diffusion region 222 and the P-type diffusion region 232. Resistor R₃ represents the resistance between the PN junction of diode D₁ and the base of transistor BPT₂ (or the collector of transistor BPT₁) caused by the sheet resistance of P-well 242 and that of the P-type diffusion region 232. Diode D₁ is therefore connected on one side to the pad and on the other side to the ground (or V_(SS)) through resistors R₂ and R₃. Thus, when a positive ESD pulse occurs at the pad, diode D₁ becomes reverse biased and can break down, resulting in current flowing from the pad to the P-type diffusion region 232. P+ diffusion region 214 in contact with the P-type diffusion region 232 helps guide the breakdown current through the part of P-well 242 under N+ diffusion region 224 to P+ diffusion region 216, which is connected to ground. When the P-well/N-well blocked region 262 is provided, the higher sheet resistance in this region also helps to restrict the flow of the diode breakdown current toward P+ diffusion 216 in the part of the P-well under N+ diffusion region 224. Because of resistor R₂, the breakdown current flow thus raises the electric potential of P-well 242, and turns on transistor BPT₂ by causing its base/emitter junction to become forward biased. Once transistor BPT₂ turns on, another current starts to flow from the pad through N-well 252 (the collector of transistor BPT₂) to N+ diffusion regions 224 and 226 (the emitter of transistor BPT₂). Because of resistor R₁, this current through N-well 252 puts the electric potential of N-well below that of the P+ diffusion region 212, which is connected directly to the pad, and thus turns on transistor BPT₁. The positive feedback of the two transistors is then set up and the SCR structure in structure 200 is triggered to discharge the ESD pulse.

Thus, the triggering of the SCR structure in structure 200 is caused by the avalanche breakdown of the PN junction between N+ diffusion region 222 and the P-type diffusion region 232. Adjustment of the trigger voltage for the SCR structure in structure 200 can be made by adjusting the length L (shown in FIG. 2A) of the N+ diffusion region 224 and thus the P-well resistance in resistor R₂. Because both the N+ diffusion region 222 and the P-type diffusion region 232 have much higher dopant concentration than that of a typical N-well and P-well (or P-type substrate) respectively, this breakdown occurs at a lower voltage than the ESD trigger voltage of conventional SCR or LVTSCR structures. In addition, structure 200 offers several other advantages over the conventional ESD structures, as listed in Table 1 below.

TABLE 1 Comparison of ESD Protection Structures Percentage LVTSCR 100 Structure 200 of reduction Device Area (μm²) ~26.5 × 38 21 × 38 21% SCR Width (μm) 60 59 2% N+ Size (μm²) 30 × 5 2 × 1 98.7% N-well Size (μm²) 32 × 8.3 30 × 6 32% SCR Capacitance (fF) ~270 fF <80 fF >70%

As shown in Table 1, structure 200 has a much lower capacitance than LVTSCR structure 100. In an SCR device, the size of the N+ diffusion region connected to the pad contributes the most to the SCR capacitance. In structure 200, the size of N+ diffusion region 222 is greatly reduced as compared with the size of N+ diffusion regions 120 in the prior art structure 100. The size of the N-well also contributes to the capacitance, and in structure 100, the size of N-well 252 is also significantly reduced as compared with the size of N-well 130 in structure 100. Therefore, structure 200 is more suitable for high speed applications that require low SCR capacitance, such as SCR capacitance below 100 fF.

Furthermore, although prior art structure 100 has a smaller area as compared with other conventional SCR structures, ESD structure 200 of the present invention occupies an even smaller area on a semiconductor substrate than the prior art ESD structure 100. As shown in Table 1, an area saving of 21% can result by using structure 200 instead of prior art structure 100. Although ESD structure 200 occupies smaller area on a semiconductor substrate than prior art structure 100, the effective SCR width is nearly identical to that of structure 100. The effective SCR width of an SCR structure is part of the perimeter of the P+ anode that faces the N+ cathode. Thus, in structure 100, the SCR width is two times the length λ of the diffusion region 110 (or 122), and in structure 200, the SCR width is the total length running from point a to point b to point c to point d to point e on the edge of the P+ anode 212, which is almost the total perimeter of the P+ anode 212.

Moreover, because structure 200 uses no MOS-like structures, there is no possibility of gate oxide breakdown during an ESD event. Also due to the absence of the NMOS transistors in structure 200, the base width of the bipolar transistor that turns on first in response to an ESD pulse can be made much smaller. Thus, the turn-on speed of the SCR structure in structure 200 can be made much faster than the turn-on speed of the SCR structure in structure 100. As shown in FIG. 2A, in structure 200, the bipolar transistor that turns on first is BPT₂ and its base width is the distance W from the N+ cathode 226 or 224 to the N-well 252. Distance W can be made to be the shortest distance between an N+ diffusion and an N-well allowable by the design rules associated with the fabrication technology for manufacturing the IC that includes structure 200. In structure 100, however, the bipolar transistor that turns on first is BPT_(npn), and its base width ω, as shown in FIG. 1A, is the distance from the N+ cathode 122 to N-well 130, which is separated from the N+ cathode 122 by N+ anode 120 and gate 150. The base width of BPT_(npn) in structure 100 is therefore much longer, resulting in a slower turn-on speed.

As another advantage of ESD structure 200, all of the diffusion regions in structure 200 can be formed using process steps for fabricating a conventional CMOS IC, which is protected by structure 200, and no additional masking steps are needed to form the diffusion regions in structure 200. FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a process 300 for fabricating the ESD protection structure 200 on a semiconductor substrate according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, process 300 comprises process step 310 for forming N-well 252. Step 310 can involve the same IC fabrication steps associated with the formation of other N-wells in the CMOS IC protected by structure 200. One of these IC fabrication steps can be an N-well implant process step, during which, a N-well mask typically made of photoresist is applied to the substrate exposing substrate areas corresponding to N-well 252 and other N-wells of the CMOS IC.

Process 300 further comprises process step 320 for forming P-well 242. Again, step 320 can involve the same IC fabrication steps associated with the formation of other P-wells in the CMOS IC protected by structure 200. One of these IC fabrication steps can be a P-well implant process step, during which, a P-well mask typically made of photoresist is applied to the substrate exposing substrate areas corresponding to P-well 242 and other P-wells of the CMOS IC. The P-well/N-well block region 262 can formed by blocking the substrate area corresponding to the P-well/N-well block region 262 during the P-well and N-well implant processes using the same N-well and P-well masks during steps 310 and 320.

Process 300 further comprises process step 340 for forming the P-type diffusion region 232. Step 340 can involve the same IC fabrication steps for forming P-channel lightly doped drain (PLDD) regions in the CMOS IC protected by structure 200. One of these IC fabrication steps can be a PLDD implant process step, during which, a PLDD mask typically made of photoresist is applied to the substrate exposing substrate areas corresponding to the P-type diffusion region 232 and other PLDD regions of the CMOS IC.

Process 300 further comprises process step 350 for forming the N+ diffusion regions 222, 224, and 226 in structure 200. Step 350 can involve the same IC fabrication steps associated with the formation of the N+ source/drain regions in the CMOS IC protected by structure 200. One of these IC fabrication steps can be an N+ source/drain implant process step, during which, a N+ mask typically made of photoresist is applied to the substrate exposing substrate areas corresponding to N+ diffusion regions 222, 224, and 226, and other N+ source drain regions of the CMOS IC.

Process 300 further comprises step 360 for forming the P+ diffusion regions 212, 214, and 216 in structure 200. Again step 360 can involve the same IC fabrication steps associated with the formation of the P+ source/drain regions in the CMOS IC protected by structure 200. One of these IC fabrication steps can be an P+ source/drain implant process step, during which, a P+ mask typically made of photoresist is applied to the substrate exposing substrate areas corresponding to P+ diffusion regions 212, 214 and 216, and other P+ source drain regions of the CMOS IC. Therefore, no additional IC fabrication steps in addition to the ones involved in the fabrication of a conventional CMOS IC protected by structure 200 are required to form structure 200 on a semiconductor substrate.

Thus, all of the diffusion regions of structure 200, including the diffusion regions 212, 252, 242, 224 and 226 of the bipolar transistors BPT₁ and BPT₂, and the two diffusion regions 222 and 232 of the triggering diode D₁, are formed during process 300, which is part of the fabrication process for fabricating the CMOS IC protected by structure 200. In particular, one of the two diffusion regions of the triggering diode D₁, i.e., diffusion region 232, is formed using a lightly doped drain implant process for forming lightly doped drain regions in the CMOS IC protected by structure 200.

Structure 200 can be used to protect NMOS devices in an input or output circuit of an integrated circuit. A complementary structure of structure 200 can be used to protect PMOS devices. In particular, by changing the conductivity type of each diffusion region in structure 200 to its opposite conductivity type, for example, by changing P+ diffusions 212, 214, and 216 to N+ diffusions, N+ diffusions 222, 224 and 226 to P+ diffusions, P-well 242 to an N-well, N-well 252 to a P-well, and P-type diffusion region 232 to an N-type diffusion region, structure 200 can be used to protect PMOS devices in an input or output circuit of an integrated circuit. Also, dopant concentrations in the diffusion regions of structure 200 can vary. For example, when the CMOS IC protected by structure 200 uses P++ or N++ diffusion regions for the sources and drains of its MOS devices, P+ diffusions 212, 214 and 216 can be P++ diffusion regions, and N+ diffusion regions 222, 224, and 226 can be N++ diffusion regions.

Although the present invention has been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions, and alterations can be made hereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. 

1. A method of fabricating an ESD protection structure on a semiconductor substrate, said ESD protection structure protecting an integrated circuit also fabricated on said semiconductor substrate, comprising: applying a first mask on said semiconductor substrate, said first mask exposing a first area on a surface of said semiconductor substrate to a well implant process for forming N-wells or P-wells in said integrated circuit; applying a second mask on said semiconductor substrate, said second mask exposing a second area adjacent said first area on said surface to a lightly doped drain implant process for forming lightly doped drain regions in said integrated circuit; applying a third mask on said semiconductor substrate, said third mask exposing a third area to a first source/drain implant process for forming a first set of source/drain regions in said integrated circuit, wherein a first part of said third area overlaps with said first area and a second part of said third area overlaps with said second area, and wherein a diffusion region formed in said third area and a diffusion region formed in said second area form a triggering diode for triggering the ESD protection structure to discharge an ESD pulse on said integrated circuit; applying a fourth mask on said semiconductor substrate, said fourth mask exposing a fourth area within said first area to a second source/drain implant process for forming a second set of source/drain regions in said integrated circuit; and forming non-rectifying electrical connections between the second source/drain regions and the first source/drain regions.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein said third mask also exposes a fifth area to said first source/drain implant process and wherein, when said ESD structure is triggered, a discharge current flows between a diffusion region formed in said fourth area and a diffusion region formed in said fifth area.
 3. The method of claim 2 wherein said fifth area faces more than two sides of said fourth area.
 4. A method of fabricating an ESD protection structure on a semiconductor substrate comprising: forming in a substrate first wells of a first conductivity type and second wells of a second conductivity type, forming in the second wells first doped regions of the second conductivity type, forming in the substrate first source/drain regions of the first conductivity type such that for some of the first source/drain regions a first part of the first source/drain regions overlaps with said first wells and a second part of the first source/drain regions overlaps said first doped regions and triggering diodes are formed by said first source/drain regions and said first doped regions, forming in the first and second wells second source/drain regions of the second conductivity type, and forming non-rectifying electrical connections between the second source/drain regions formed in the first wells and the first source/drain regions that overlap with the first wells.
 5. The method of claim 4 herein the first conductivity type is N.
 6. The method of claim 4 wherein the first conductivity type is P.
 7. The method of claim 4 wherein some of the first source/drain regions of first conductivity type are formed in the second wells of second conductivity type further comprising the step of connecting said first source/drain regions formed in the second wells to second source/drain regions formed in the second wells. 